The Devil’s Rock is a horror animation of unusual length (30 minutes) on YouTube. It’s great. You’re effectively getting an animation worthy of Love, Death + Robots or an Amazon Prime challenger series, except for free.
In The Devil’s Rock, the narrator finds herself in a terrifying situation after a car theft goes wrong. She and her companion, Laura, try to siphon petrol from a car near a cornfield, but mysterious creatures attack them. The narrator is saved by a young man who pulls her onto a large rock, a place the creatures seem unable to reach. Trapped on the rock, the two are surrounded by the cornfield, from which they can hear Laura’s cries, which eventually fade away.
With no phone signal and little hope of rescue, the narrator and the guy, who is injured, try to survive on what they have. They share stories to pass the time and keep their spirits up. The man reveals that the rock is known as “the devil’s rock” and is associated with strange disappearances that occur every 17 years. As time passes and the guy’s condition worsens, the narrator, filled with guilt from his past, devises a desperate plan to use the creatures’ howls as a distraction in an attempt to escape.
I like how the animation has a distinctive illustration style. The characters are drawn with bold outlines and a somewhat blocky, yet expressive, design. At first, I thought it was done to save time, but I think it suits the genre. We don’t lose what matters. For example, their faces have prominent eyes and simplified noses, conveying emotions through subtle changes in expression.
The same goes for the colour palette, which leans towards muted and desaturated tones, enhancing the sombre and eerie atmosphere of the story. Backgrounds are often simplified, focusing on essential elements like cornfields, rocks, and distant structures. Shadows are used to create depth and enhance the mood, particularly in darker scenes.
There’s more! Sadly, no more adventures of our Devil’s Rock survivors, but if you’re bold enough, you can try the short film roulette by jumping on this teleport link to find another random watch.
